Breaking Ground
by DarkAngelSnapeLover
Summary: Abby is growing older, but she still wants to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the NCIS building to be placed on the moon. She meets Tony during her travels, and he asks her to help with one final case using this new lab. But with both growing much older, will either of them see the lab's completion? Warning: Character death. One-shot.


**Breaking Ground**

_Warning: Major character deaths_

Abby didn't know if she'd end up old enough to attend the ceremony, but as the day neared, she felt her aging bones enter a phase they rarely did anymore: They were pain-free. She prepared her outfit for the special event with care. It wasn't every day that a government agency broke ground on a space colony, especially NCIS, and she wanted to look her best in front of the coworkers she left. She had only been retired ten years now, and she'd been a consultant throughout those ten years, especially when an architect approached her to help him design a lab for the new moon colony.

Abby never thought she'd see the day when people began living in space, but in 2025, a special group of people traveled to the moon in a mothership filled with building supplies, building supplies for a colony, NUS-New United States. Since then, fifteen years had passed, and the population of Americans on the moon was now greater than the population of Alaska. The government constructed a military base there in 2050, a year Abby didn't know if she'd see or not. Thanks to modern medicine, she could expect to live to be 150, maybe 200 if she were lucky, but Abby knew her work could be dangerous, so she proceeded cautiously.

Now, in 2060, she could feel herself growing old and grey, but she was still going to be at the groundbreaking ceremony on the moon, an hour-long trip thanks to recent rocket technology. And she was going to wear a Victorian-style black dress, whether her feet could handle the three-inch heel or not. Her hair might be grey and thin, but she had to keep her trademark look, just in case people needed to know who she was.

Abby packed a light travel bag and headed outside of her apartment. She'd lived in downtown New York City for a while now because transportation was so easy to use and fast. She could be in Washington DC within twenty minutes, maybe less if the security lines were low. But today, she was going to the moon, and that meant a long approval process at the travel port, which would send her to the transfer base after a ten minute trip to central Virginia, if she got through the process. She was always fearful because of the chemicals she'd been exposed to throughout her career, and she always wondered if she was an actual ticking time bomb because of the trace elements inside her.

But she had to keep her head clear. After arriving at the travel port, Abby joined a line of NCIS officials all dressed in formal uniform. They were sent through security quickly because of a preapproval process, but Abby didn't have that luxury, or so she thought. As she approached the security official and handed him her clear data card, which held every piece of personal information about Abby, the security official smiled, nodded, and waved her through.

"I don't understand. I haven't been preapproved," she said with a confused look, taking back her card and following the man's order. As she stepped forward, she saw the reason she was preapproved: Tony. "What in the world are you doing here? I thought you already lived on the colony."

"I do," Tony nodded. "There's nothing like the view of Earth when you wake up in the morning," he sighed happily, taking Abby's arm and leading her towards the departing monorail. "I did this for you as a favor because I need something from you, something I hope you can do when the new lab is constructed in twenty years."

"Tony, I'll be a 100 years old soon, and I don't know what medicine can do for me if certain organs start to fail. Humans have never lived this long before, and I fear my own mortality sometimes," Abby sighed, entering the monorail and following Tony to a private car he'd reserved previously. "Tony, unless you can have me do it within the next five years, I don't think I'll be able to help you."

"Abby, I'm older than you," Tony smiled, running his fingers through his thick, brown hair. He looked fifty, maybe younger, not older than 90. "I have connections thanks to my father, and well, I want to pass them along to you. I need you to investigate someone for me, an old friend of sorts. He attended my college with me, an old fraternity brother, but now he's in with the wrong crowd. I saw him at my reunion three years ago, and well, I want you to help me get him the help he needs."

Abby thought for a moment, staring out the monorail's window. She wouldn't be able to do that once the train started moving because the sensation made her dizzy. Her eye implants, which she had put in almost twenty years ago, hated the movement, and Abby hated the idea of replacing them. Going under the knife to make herself younger never really pleased Abby. The eyes were a necessity because she had a cataract disease, as were the hearing aids she'd had implanted a year after the eye operation. Anything else was unnecessary, whether she still needed to solve a case or not.

"Tony, I just don't know," Abby said honestly. "I'm not into all this immortality talk, and I just...you're going to have to convince me with more than just a story, Tony."

"Well, I have evidence back in my pod on the moon," Tony smirked. "If you're willing to be approved for an extra few days, which I can arrange easily, then I can show you everything I have so far. I have evidence that I want you to look at, and since your lifetime membership at NCIS will be transferred over to the moon base, then we'll have to wait until it's completed to do the analyzing. It's a long time to wait, but I think we can manage. He's not that dangerous, just stupid."

"Are you sure about that, Tony? Terrorists now days-," she began, her voice freezing up as the monorail shot forward towards its destination. It took a good minute or more for Abby to compose herself enough to continue. "The terrorists of today aren't like the ones we put away back then. Yes, we had bombers and poisoners and every other type of serial killer, but today they have laser guns that leave no trace. I can run ballistics on a beam of light. All of them cut through the gel and burn them, just like human flesh. It's impossible to trace some of these people, at least for someone like me," she sighed. "Tony, I'm past my prime. I can't help you or your friend. I'm sorry."

"So you're just going to give up? That's not like you, Abbs," Tony chuckled, scratching his chin's light stubble. "Come on, what do I have to do to sweeten the deal?"

"Nothing, Tony. I spent my entire life loving forensics and dedicating my life to it. I'm nearly a hundred years old now, and though I helped them develop the plans for this lab, I'll be finished when this trip is done. I want to see the groundbreaking ceremony, then I want to head home, sell my living space, and move into the country to live out my final days in peace," Abby said, the plan making her tongue dry. She'd had the dream to move to the country to die for about twenty years now, but she didn't want to put it in place. Now seemed like the best time, even if it made her feel nervous.

"I thought I knew you, Abby," Tony sighed. "I thought you'd want one last case, one last saved man. Yes, he's a bit of a criminal, but he's going down the wrong path for today's society. Things are going to tighten up once the World Federation of Nations comes together, and these terrorists are going to get slammed. I want to keep that from happening to him, but I can always go to your replacement," he hinted, trying to provoke her.

It was true; Abby hated her replacement the moment that blonde science nerd walked into her lab. He was tall, handsome, and thought he was funny, a blonde version of Tony. And he definitely fit the old blonde jokes from the previous century. His first week there, the lab was closed off and vacuum sealed because of a mistake he made handling contaminated evidence. Abby doubted the clown could continue her work properly, but then she tracked him solving a case with Tony and his new group. Not only was he fairly skilled, he was sympathetic with witnesses and victims, and his people skills made him a common sight in the interrogation rooms when special people came in. And he knew the new forensic things that Abby couldn't make her aging brain learn. She learned to respect him, and he was one of the people who came to her for the consulting job for the moon base.

"Abby, I thought that would work," Tony scoffed, glancing out the window. "Well, I see you're adamant. Let me stay with you during your trip, as a friend, then I'll see you off and I'll never both you again."

"Thank you, Tony," Abby smiled, looking up as the monorail slowed. They were at the transfer that would send them to the moon, but both could tell something was wrong. A traffic jam somewhere else backed up the station, and there were too many people for the station to handle. Abby and Tony were given numbers, high numbers.

"I can name-drop to get through this within minutes," Tony offered, but Abby shook her head, taking a seat on a bench and staring into the crowd. "You're quieter now, a lot quieter."

"I am," Abby agreed, crossing her ankles and looking to the floor. She was tired already, and she wondered if she should really be going. She'd be tired for days, unable to do much of anything, and Abby hated that feeling. She felt useless and old, far more than usual, and it often depressed her.

"Abby, are you alright? Your eyes are drooping," Tony said, tapping her shoulder.

"I just need a little nap, Tony, that's all," Abby assured him with a smile, but she knew he was right. Something felt different about this approaching nap. It felt tranquil, peaceful, welcoming. She let her eyes fall, and suddenly she saw faces she hadn't seen in years. Gibbs waved to her, his white teeth flickering in the light as Kate walked up beside him. 'Am I…?' she began to ask, but they nodded before she could finish. 'Bad timing, huh?'

'I've seen worse,' Gibbs said, taking Abby's arm. Her wrinkles and sagging skin was gone, and her skin was as pure as it was in her youth. 'It's okay to leave Tony back there to handle this. He's always good under pressure.'

Abby looked back. Behind a fuzzy curtain of sorts was Tony trying his hardest to get Abby to wake up. He was going to try to take her home, but he wouldn't be able to now. Abby knew she didn't want to go back, at least not anymore. She was afraid of death for much of her life, embracing the culture of death in an attempt to make a truce with the never-ending sleep. Now, she welcomed it.

'Kate, it's nice to see you again, for real this time,' Abby smiled. Kate nodded; she'd heard that one when Ducky came through decades ago. He passed peacefully, and Abby wondered where he was until she remembered a revival process a good friend of his tried, a revival process that worked.

Abby followed Gibbs and Kate towards a palace-like area covered with bright, clear light. It blinded her at first, but soon she grew comfortable. She smiled softly, happy to be done with the stresses of the world. Though she wished she could see the groundbreaking and help Tony, she knew deep down that it was her time.

Two weeks after the groundbreaking ceremony, another ceremony was held to name the lab after Abby. Tony was there, his heart still heavy from losing her right beside him. He wiped away a few tears as speakers made the name change official with the help of the president, the current director of NCIS, and Abby's replacement, whose blonde hair almost seemed to be filled with glitter as a spotlight kept them at the center of attention.

Tony walked around the moon's surface, his mind going back to that video long ago of the first men on the moon. Now suits were almost skin-tight, thought the domes over the moon's current colonies kept the atmosphere as close to Earth's as possible. The gravity was altered to be the same as well, but it wasn't here.

Tony kicked a moon rock, watching it fly across the surface and land against an uplifted crater. He wished everyone could be immortal, but he knew it was all just a game, a selfish game to be here longer than everyone else. In reality, he felt his age on the inside, his hands throbbing nearly every time he moved them from arthritis and his eyes feeling cloudy from an approaching disease. He knew his time would come, but he hoped to see the colony through, for Abby's sake at least.

As he went back home, Tony looked off towards Earth and tried to think if Abby had ever seen the view. His heart ached for her, and as he stepped into his pod, he wished she could've seen his sleek living space with its mega-modern flare. He sank into a couch, a couch he knew she would've fallen in love with, and he stared at the hologram screen shimmering in front of him. Los Angeles was facing overcrowding problems again, which Tony knew because McGhee had been there for twenty years or more and they still kept in touch.

He reached for the headset that could connect him to McGhee, but he felt a twinge and rested his arm again. He'd felt the twinge before, but this time it was different, the pain deeper and lasting longer.

He knew. He knew before he crumpled, before he hit the ground. He could feel Abby in the room, a smile on her youthful face, her body shimmering in the artificial light.

'Dear God,' he chuckled, standing and joining her. 'What do you make of this?'

'Broken heart syndrome,' Abby grinned, taking Tony's arm. 'Actually, it's just fate. Gibbs is waiting. Where we're going, the cases aren't as dramatic or deadly, but they're still fun. I have a lab and some great agents working for me. Would you like to be one of those agents, Tony?'

'Would I ever?!' he exclaimed, following Abby into the blinding light. He never looked back.

Theme 021: Breaking Ground

Bonus Challenge: Create a science fiction piece for the NCIS fandom

To complete the themes yourself, I have the list posted on my profile. The list is for any type of fan fiction (one-shot, drabble, etc.) and any fandom. Challenge yourself in other ways to make it more fun, and enjoy!

A/N: I wasn't expecting to kill Abby and Tony; it just sort of happened. I've attempted science fiction pieces for Abby before, so I might try again in the future, though I'll keep her alive. If you like the sci-fi thing, please let me know, especially if you have an idea for another piece, even within another fandom (if I know the fandom, that is).

Note: I did place a warning at the beginning of the piece, so if you're upset that I killed major characters, I warned you ahead of time so please don't flame me for that.


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